Blythe, Tom Moses (JLT-Condor), Alex Peters (Sky) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Axeon Hagens Berman) were off the front off the peloton going into the final six laps of the 207km race and held an advantage deep into the fourth lap until a reduced bunch swept them up.

Blythe doesn’t believe that he had it harder than any of his competitors but his chances of victory almost came undone as the finish gantry came in sight.

He added: “Everyone wanted to get into that last corner in a good postion. Kristian House hit out and, sadly, I got cramp before that last corner and I thought ‘no, no, no, not now’, but luckily it didn’t come through and I was able to do my sprint properly.

Sharethrough (Mobile)

“It was the same out there for everyone. We were in the group out front and there was a group behind chasing. It was a long, hard day out for sure.”